[Techtalk] Applications for writing dissertation

[Tabatha Persad]

Hi Stephanie,

On Sun, 2002-10-13 at 11:57, Stephanie Boyd wrote:
> Anyway, it has been 
> suggested that I could use a mark-up language such as DocBook or LaTex, but
> unfortunately, as none of my friends actually create documents, they don't
> really know whether or not it would be suitable for what I want to do.

I can relate to the experiences you mentioned with the office suite for
Linux.  I went through a lot of work to figure out how to use DocBook,
and not only do I highly recommend it, but I have got the setup of the
tools down to an art form.
 
> Basically here's what I need:
> It's an economics dissertation, so whatever I use must be able to deal well
> with equations.  The ability to either generate graphs or for me to easily
> insert graphs is also important.  Ideally, I'd like to be able to save in
> mutliple formats, but I must as least be able to print to a postscript file.

DocBook and the tools (I use Openjade) can process the documentation
into many formats, and you will usually find with most Linux editing
programs that you can save to a PS file under the print options.  I am
not sure what you mean when you say "deal well with equations," but
using DocBook markup allows you to show text in screenshots.  Graphics
support is very good as well, if your graphs are pictures (like jpg
etc).
  
> I don't know if I'm asking for the moon-on-a-stick here, but if any of you
> have opinions as to what would be my best bet, I'd be most grateful.  I've
> got a couple of smaller documents in the iterim period, so I should be able
> to try more than one thing, should multiple packages fit my requirements.

I'd venture to say you can get the results you want.  I can use DocBook
and the Openjade tools to make rtf, pdf, html, etc.  I use Emacs/Xemacs
to do my editing because of a "psgml" plugin.  What this does is if you
load an sgml or xml file into Emacs, it automatically loads extra menus,
giving you a wealth of handy tools to mark up and validate your
documentation.

Here's where I'd start if you want to look into it:

1. The DocBook XML V4.1.2 Quick Start Guide:
http://www.jimweller.net/jim/dbxmlqs/index.html
--If you use this document to set up the tools, they will work,
guaranteed.  Caveat:  The doc recommends that you install Openjade from
tar, however you may already have openjade installed as an RPM, in which
case you can skip that step.  Don't forget to go find the PSGML plugin
if you use Emacs/Xemacs to edit.

2. DocBook:  The Definitive Guide (Online):
http://docbook.org/tdg/en/html/docbook.html
--You will want to keep this page bookmarked if you use DocBook.  It has
an index of all the tags.  If you've ever done html, you should be able
to understand the sgml and xml tags.

3. DocBook Schema:
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/docbook/
--This is probably included in the first link above, but if you need to
download them, they are here.  

4.  The Linux Documentation Project:
http://www.tldp.org
--This is a wealth of resources.  You can find HOWTOs about DocBook and
the tools.  You can also go to their CVS repository and download copies
of the source text if you want to get an idea of the common formats
used.

If you consider using DocBook, I'd be glad to lend a hand.  There are
lots of other ways to go about creating your documentation, but DocBook
has made my life a lot easier.  

If you try any of the other recommendations instead, good luck!

-- 
Tabatha Persad
Web: www.merlinmonroe.com
Linux Documentation Project Editor (http://www.tldp.org)
Gnu Writing Movement Contributor (http://gwm.gnu.org)
Linux Counter Area Manager US:wa (http://counter.li.org)